Crisis Chronology | El Salvador

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EL SALVADOR

07/26/2023

Congress passes law allowing mass trials of gang members. Hundreds from the same gang or same region could be tried at once. In the sixteen months of emergency, nearly 72,000 have been arrested. Six thousand have been released.

06/07/2023

Legislature votes to reduce its number from 84 to 60. Critics say it will reduce the power of small parties and continue to concentrate power.

03/29/2023

A year into Bukele’s state of emergency to crack down on crime, a huge number of people are in jail, the crime rate has dropped, and Bukele enjoys a 91% approval rating.

12/03/2022

Government deploys 10,000 soldiers and “agents” to a suburb of San Salvador dominated by gangs.

11/19/2022

The collapse of a major bitcoin company raises economic concerns. The country has a large Eurobond debt payment in 1/23. China has offered to pay the debt, but that has its own hazards for the country.

09/16/2022

Bukele says he will run from president again in 2024. The constitution prohibits one person from holding the presidency for consecutive terms, but in 2021, a Bukele-dominated Supreme Court said he could run. Bukele remains highly popular, though he is increasingly criticized for authoritarian acts. However, he responded quickly and effectively to the COVID-19 pandemic and has drastically reduced gang-driven crime by giving the police broad powers.

04/29/2022

As more than 12,000 people have been arrested, Bukele is more popular than ever among Salvadoreans.

04/25/2022

Government extends state of emergency to round up gang members. More than 17,000 have been arrested, raising fears that innocent people or political opponents were arrested.

03/27/2022

Government declares a state of emergency to fight a surge in gang murders. It will last for thirty days and may be extended.

11/11/2021

Government sends troops to San Salvador and other areas to fight sharp increase in murders. Bukele accuses “dark forces” of working against El Salvador.

10/17/2021

Substantial protests against Bukele by many groups.

09/07/2021

Government officially accepts cryptocurrency bitcoin as legal tender.

07/01/2021

Bukele calls for a 20% increase in minimum wage, needed because of “onslaught of global inflation.”

06/05/2021

Government announces that it will accept cryptocurrency Bitcoin as legal tender, which will make it easier for Salvadorans abroad to send money home.

05/02/2021

Legislature, dominated by Bukele’s allies, dismisses all the Supreme Court judges for “arbitrary” decisions. The attorney general was also dismissed. The Supreme Court announces that the move is unconstitutional.

02/28/2021

Bukele retains power

Bukele’s New Ideas party and its ally gain substantially, winning about two-thirds of the votes and possibly gaining a supermajority in parliament. There are fears he will become autocratic.

07/14/2020

El Salvador murder rate falls dramatically. There is uncertainty whether the result is Bukele’s authoritarian moves, a truce between gangs, or the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic.

06/18/2020

Supreme Court rules that Bukele’s state of emergency over the COVID-19 pandemic was unconstitutional and orders it immediately suspended.

06/01/2020

Tropical storm Amanda this central America, primarily El Salvador.

05/31/2020

Congress passes a new emergency bill to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic that will allow the country economy to gradually resume. Bukele threatens to veto it. El Salvador has about 2500 cases and 45 deaths.

05/17/2020

Attorney General files suit asserting that Bukele’s declaration of emergency was unconstitutional. Initially confrontational, Bukele today asks all branches of government to work together to fight the pandemic.

05/16/2020

Bukele declares a state of emergency due to COVID-19 pandemic. A decarlation of emergency was to expire 5/17, and the legislature had planned to discuss its extension, but Bukele asserted his right to do so.

04/08/2020

Murder rates drop significantly, perhaps due to quarantine due to COVID-19. To some extent, gangs are said to be enforcing the social distancing.

03/18/2020

COVID-19 confirmed to be in El Salvador.

02/26/2020

Legislative Assembly passes reconciliation law, but rights groups criticize it as providing amnesty for government abuses. The law allows for commutation of sentences for age or ill health, limits the development of cases to one year, and requires charges to be brought within ten years.

02/10/2020

Armed soldiers enter parliament to support Bukele’s legislation for improvements to military equipment, after Bukele encourages them to do so.

11/03/2019

El Salvador expels diplomats of the Maduro government and recognizes Guaidó as the legitimate head of Venezuela.

03/29/2019

US orders aid cutoff to El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala for not doing enough to stop migration.

02/04/2019

Bukele elected president

Nayib Armando Bukele Ortez, running on the conservative Great Alliance for National Unity (GANA) ticket, leads in nearly complete vote count. He announces that he has 54% of the vote and Calleja about 32%. A former member of the FMLN who still considers himself a leftist, Bukele has essentially run against the government.

02/04/2019

Bukele leads in nearly complete vote count. He announces that he has 54% of the vote and Calleja about 32%.

02/03/2019

General election in El Salvador. Nayib Bukele, conservative former mayor San Salvador running with the Grand Alliance for National Unity, is leading in polls, followed by supermarket owner Carlos Calleja of ARENA. Hugo Martinez of FMLN was third. Bukele’s appeal is largely that he is not one of the established parties, many of whom are being investigated, and he proposes a UN-backed anti-corruption investigation and new infrastructure investment. Calleja has focused on economic development. Martinez has made climate a focus of his campaign.

12/18/2018

US pledges nearly $6 billion to aid economic aid to Mexico about $5 billion to Honduras, Guatemela, and El Salvador.

12/02/2018

Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador agree to reduce the number of people fleeing their countries by creating a fund to boost job creation and welfare.

10/22/2018

As a very large group of migrants, mostly from Honduras, continue to progress toward the US southern border, Pres Trump says he will beging cutting off aid to Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.

08/21/2018

El Salvador recognizes China and severs diplomatic ties with Taiwan.

06/25/2018

Talks moderated by Catholic Church begin. Violence flairs anew. New opposition group, the Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy, is a disparate group of businessmen, students, farmers, and environmentalists and is led by a student, Lesther Aleman.

06/17/2018

Eight are killed in protests against government.

02/21/2018

South Korea signs free-trade agreement with Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and Panama.